Tuesday, April 21, 2015

An alleged Cyber Crime Bill is about to be tabled in the National Assembly for debate and subsequent passage to be implemented in Pakistan to “regulate” the Internet. No Objection! carry on because Pakistan does need a proper but friendly media/cyber regulation but that doesn’t mean a rise of the Fourth Reich or regulations closer to proverbial satellite communist states. The Government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif and Pakistan Muslim League (N) is the epitome of an old and time tested principle: “we learn from history that we learn nothing from history”. Not very long ago, the government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif was facing a possible military-cum-political coup d'état threat from Imran Khan and his horde. In that occasion, it was the social media, the civil society and a few intellectuals (many of them work in NGOs, yes the ones that were sweepingly attacked by Ms Anusha Rahman, the IT Minister) who vociferously defended not only the supremacy of the Parliament but the very government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif, by ripping the narrative of Imran Khan apart on the social media. Let me remind Ms Anusha Rahman that the venom that she spat on NGOs is almost the same as the one prevalent amongst the several banned militant outfits in Pakistan. Ms Anusha Rahman, by attacking NGOs, is miserably trying to appease that very lobby of Right Wing Militants who were part and parcel of the Musharraf regime that overthrew Mr. Nawaz Sharif in 1999. Anti-Islamic NGOs Working On Bad Agenda: Hafiz Saeed Saturday, August 20, 2011
http://undertaker9.blogspot.com/2011/08/anti-islamic-ngos-working-on-bad-agenda.html Foreign NGOs weakening people's faith: Hafiz Saeed . May 02, 2004 http://archives.dailytimes.com.pk/national/02-May-2004/foreign-ngos-weakening-people-s-faith-hafiz-saeed

It is also worth remembering that similar curbs and strong arm tactics to gag the media during Mr. Nawaz Sharif’s second tenure, became one of the reasons behind his fall. Everybody still remembers how Mr. Mushahid Hussain and Mr. Saifur Rehman unleased fascism on the Pakistani press and prominent victims were Mr. Najam Sethi and Mr. Husain Haqqani. How conveniently the government of Mr. Nawaz Sharif has forgotten the way Mr. Siddiqal Faruq, Mr. Mushahidullah Khan, Mr. Pervez Rasheed, Mr. Javed Hashmi and Rana Sanaullah were treated by the General Pervez Musharraf regime between 1999 and 2007 and it was only the Media which came to the help of Mr. Nawaz Sharif. Yet the IT Minister had the audacity to declare the apprehensions of the civil society as hearsay, in a TV Show yesterday. Pakistan is a Third World country where law enforcement agencies act as a colonial force instead of people friendly force and when a country is exploding with religious and ethnic hate, such harsh and severe regulations would open the gate of mass persecution at the drop of the hat. For example, every Mullah interprets the “glory of Islam” as per the interpretation suited to him and declares anyone opposing his view as death-deserving and an apostate. War on Jang http://jang.com.pk/thenews/spedition/waronjang/

Another absurdity which is added as an offence in the Bill: “attacking friendly countries”. Now please browse the internet and look for the statement of Mullahs of different schools of thought attacking several Middle Eastern/West Asian countries, and all these Middle Eastern Countries (Gulf States) have friendly relations with Pakistan. Is the government out of its mind or does it want to fill the prisons with all and sundry who raises his or her pen on any international issue related to foreign countries? Another joke was to add as an offence the critique on the “integrity, security or defence of Pakistan”. By the way, has anyone gone through the Wikileaks and even routine news after the War on Terror? Pakistan is a tough and rough country where law enforcers often overkill and that overkill has culminated in the present state of affairs in the country. Above all, what guarantee do the common, peaceful political commentators have in the presence of these proposed harsh laws in the hands of brute law enforcers (believe me, I have been one, once). Ms. Anusha Rahman’s response: The Fair Trial Bill!

Lastly, some of the journalists and Urdu newspapers are equally to be blamed for suggesting moral policing in Pakistan and one such journalist’s ugly reporting blocked the efforts to lift the ban from YouTube and that particular newsgroup & TV Channel raised hell when the same logic of moral policing was applied on them last year. Therefore it is requested that the Pakistani media, particularly the obnoxious rag Urdu media, either stand with the civil society or with the banned outfits. Or stop chanting cries for press freedom.

20 - On Saturday, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority directed local Internet service providers to make YouTube accessible. But by the afternoon, Geo, a private television news network that wields immense influence, reported that anti-Islam and blasphemous material was still available on YouTube. The criticism was led by Ansar Abbasi, a right-leaning journalist who often speaks out on morality and religion. Yielding to the criticism, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf then ordered providers to again block access to the video-sharing site. The flip-flop drew an immediate rebuke from users and led to a flurry of jokes on Twitter about the government’s dithering and backtracking. Pakistan Lifts YouTube Ban, for 3 Minutes By SALMAN MASOODDEC. 29, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/30/world/asia/youtube-ban-lifted-in-pakistan-for-3-minutes.html?_r=0

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Civil society, politicians often raise hue and cry over the political work and operation by Intelligence agencies and to some extent their apprehensions are right on the mark but saying this that in “Civilized World” there are some Laws and Regulations for these operations particularly in connection with Telephone Tapping and Bugging, is far from reality . I wouldn't condone or support any political duties or charter for Intelligence Agencies unless Human Life is in danger, Threat to the Integrity of the Country or to Sensitive Installations, such political duties must totally be the charter of Provincial Special Branches of Police. Political Duties or Operation affect the morals of Intelligence operatives and affect their operational capabilities in their genuine area of operation and i.e. Counter Intelligence or Operations within their country to counter the operations launched by hostile forces , what is being done in Pakistan that almost every Intelligence Agency and Police too are detailed on Political Duties thereby causing huge financial losses to national exchequer and criminal neglect to their actual duties which is ultimately to restore Order in the state.

Since the days of General Ziaul Haq the use of Spy Agencies in Political Duties to make or break political parties and manipulate politics of the country has only harmed the country in a worse possible way and I will hold General (R) Mirza Aslam Beg, General ® Hamid Gul, General ® Asad Durrani, General ® Mahmud, Major ® Aamir , Brigadier ® Imtiaz , General ® Javed Nasir etc responsible for playing with the fate and destiny of this country and bringing country to the threshold of dismemberment . These Numskulls I mentioned earlier have no shame to admit on record that they have been in connection with US Central Intelligence in one way or another and in some cases with Mossad as well and then these very gentleman brag that they actually countered the Western Spy apparatus from harming Pakistan as if we are all some fools and cannot read what harm these gentleman have done to the federation by manipulating Pakistani politics via creating Ethnic and Sectarian goons in every province to counter those political parties who represent Federation, does Mehran Bank Scandal ring any bell?

To keep the record straight, the Civil Society, Journalists & Politicians need lots of reading about domestic espionage in the alleged Civilized World e.g read Patriot Act, Church Committee Report, Cointel Pro of FBI and particularly after Wikileaks and latest Edward Snowden leaks and list goes on and on. Why these politicians conveniently forget what they do with their political rivals in Pakistan via these Intelligence Agencies which they later condemn. Journalists should also accept the blame that these very journalists who complain about Intelligence agencies are often found promoting some of the very unsavory characters the names I mentioned above as “Guarding Angel or Knight in shining armour” .

21 - Aslam Beg likes to remind visitors that he was one of a group of army officers trained by the C.I.A. in the 1950’s as a “stay-behind organization” that would melt into the population if ever the Soviet Union overran Pakistan. Those brigadiers and lieutenant colonels then trained and directed the Afghan jihadis. In the Land of the Taliban By ELIZABETH RUBIN Published: October 22, 2006 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/magazine/22afghanistan.html?pagewanted=all

27 - COINTELPRO is an acronym for the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program, which was used in the 1960s to monitor, manipulate and disrupt social and political movements in the United States. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Black Panthers, anti-Vietnam War activists, and the American Indian Movement were among the program’s targets. Democracy Now! has extensively covered COINTELPRO and its aftermath, as well as similar tactics still used against today’s generation of political activists. COINTELPRO http://www.democracynow.org/topics/cointelpro